Lady Knights headed to Regional tourney

GOLDENDALE – The Sunnyside Christian Lady Knights will be playing at the Regional tournament in two weeks, but don’t yet know if they will be headed in as the champions or in second place.

The Lady Knights secured a spot in the tournament by winning both of their District games this past weekend. Sunnyside Christian took out the Trout Lake Mustangs 74-33 last Friday then handed the Yakama Tribal Eagles a 64-30 loss on Saturday.

“We next play Friday (Feb. 21) at 6 p.m.,” said Sunnyside Christian Coach Al Smeenk. “We’ll be playing one of those two teams again.”

The Eagles and the Mustangs will face off Tuesday night. The winner of that game will also go to the Regional tournament, but first will play the Lady Knights to determine which team earns the District title.

“We are going to Regionals, win or lose,” said Smeenk. “Either as the No. 1 team or No. 2. We would prefer to go as No. 1, obviously.”

Last Friday against Trout Lake, the Lady Knights got double-digit scoring from four different players. Brittany Broersma led the scoring with 20 points. Stormee Van Belle added another 18, Annie Brouwer bucketed another 15 and Katelyn Banks dropped in 11.

“The scoring was spread around pretty evenly,” said Smeenk. “Generally we played fairly well.”

In Saturday’s victory against the Eagles, Van Belle had a double-double, scoring 17 points and grabbing 20 loose balls off the boards. Broersma also scored 17 points and Banks added another 13 for the Lady Knights.

Smeenk said he was overall satisfied with the performance of his team, but knows his girls still have work to do.

“There are some things we need to improve,” he said. “We’ll be working on those. We’ll just keep practicing, doing the things we know work. We’ve got to work hard.”